The director of Ohio’s veterans services agency who was imprisoned in a cell next to John McCain during the Vietnam War is retiring.

Gov. John Kasich said Wednesday that Thomas Moe will retire July 22 after more than two years as director of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services.

Kasich says Moe led efforts to help veterans find employment and get new access to health care.

Moe was in the Air Force in Vietnam in 1968 when he was captured behind enemy lines. He was a prisoner of war until his 1973 rescue. McCain, the senator and 2008 presidential nominee, was in a neighboring cell.

The retired Air Force colonel is a member of the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame and the Ohio Military Hall of Fame for Valor.